I'm used to getting emails from companies where it's spelled right out who is sending the email. Even the few author emails I used to subscribe to had first and last names to identify the sender. The designers of knitting patterns? Not so much.
At first, I thought it was only one or two doing this, but as I've joined more lists, I've noticed that almost every knitting designer does this. They send the email with only their first name.
Me: Who the hell is Megan?
Opens the email. Read enough to figure out that it's from a knitting designer who sells her patterns under a cute fiber name and not her real name. There is no way I'm going to associate Fun and Fiber (fake name) with Megan. If she'd sent it as Megan from Fun and Fiber, I'd be right there. If she sent it as Fun and Fiber, I'd know immediately, but simply sending it as Megan?
Caitlin does the same thing and a host of others too numerous to mention. In fact, of all the knitting designer newsletters I get, only two send under their full names and a third sends it as her cute fiber name. I know immediately who these emails are from.
Why is this a thing? All it does is leave me confused as to who's emailing me. I see Cute Fiber Name and I get excited. What new knitting pattern is available now? When I see Megan? I'm not excited because I'm too busy trying to figure out who this is. Maybe if she sent monthly newsletters, I'd remember who she is, but designers don't release a new pattern every month. In three or four months, I've forgotten that she only puts her first name on her emails.
As I was writing this blog post, Romance Writers of America sent me an email. It doesn't say RWA. It says it's from "Communications." I guess cryptic is spreading.
